Of all the big reveals that fashion week has to offer, one of the most hotly anticipated can’t be modelled, worn or bought. Rather, it’s the theatrical sets for Prada’s seasonal shows. Staged inside the Prada Foundation, these backdrops make as much of an impression as the collections themselves. Some of the brand’s most ambitious projects have transformed the space into an abstract paper doll’s house (spring/summer 2023), a metal-clad cage (spring/summer 2024), a supersized office with plants and a trickling stream (autumn/winter 2024) and an intricate scaffolding system (autumn/winter 2025). Talk about thinking outside the box.

The team behind the seasonal transformations is Milan-based architecture practice OMA and its research and design studio, AMO. The fashion world’s go-to for masterminding original runway concepts (it also counts Loewe, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton as clients), OMA/AMO has been working with Prada on its runway shows since 2004, granting its team a regular audience with co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. 

“The kick-off meeting is a conversation in which we exchange ideas, and Miuccia and Raf describe their ambitions for the upcoming show,” the firm’s senior architect, Giulio Margheri, tells Monocle, granting a rare insight into the Prada process. “The input typically focuses on atmosphere, feelings and directions. It’s more theoretical than visual, though they might sometimes bring specific images, references or fascinations.” From there, Margheri and his team translate their input into ideas for the space. “We propose concepts from various sources, which we gradually refine,” he adds. “Both offices like to challenge what can be done. There is restless research in doing new things, exploring and being curious. The functional requirements of the space are always very similar but the process and designs are always different.”

At the label’s most recent spring/summer 2026 menswear show, the runway was devoid of imposing structures and instead featured an open-plan design, complete with retro daisy-shaped shag-pile carpets. “We were trying to do something powerful with minimal intervention,” says Margheri. “This season was about avoiding overly large or complex scenography. Modesty was a key theme throughout the process.” 

The set proved to be a blank canvas of sorts for a collection that was equally pared back. “It’s a powerful way to experience space,” he adds. “The show was one of the first times that guests saw the room in its rawness. It was very impactful in its simplicity.”

“While forging a situational dialogue, there’s no hard-and-fast rule about the sets speaking directly to the collection,” says Margheri, citing the office-cum-meandering creek of autumn/winter 2024 as an example. “The raised floor featured a natural landscape and office chairs. People made assumptions about what the show meant or what it was supposed to be. Sometimes there is an instant reaction to what a set represents. But we don’t see this as something that people need to question or answer.”

Working within the fashion-week calendar’s short timelines makes a successful set installation all the more sweet. Among Margheri and his team’s highlights? Dressing the space in corrugated metal panels, with slime descending from overhead panels. “For that show, we worked with materials not typically used in architecture but scaled them up to architectural dimensions,” he says. “It was one of the first – or maybe the only – times that the set was not fully tested before the show.” In the end, it all worked out, creating yet another powerful memory for the brand’s show guests. “It’s very rewarding to be able to get these things built in such a short time,” says Margheri. “Someone once described this process as a gym for architects – there’s always a need to come up with something new, find new materials and solutions, while working within similar parameters. It forces you to reinvent everything but the core programme itself.”